AIIMS Nurses Strike Called Off

New Delhi: After a meeting with the administration of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and in view of restrainment orders from the Delhi High Court stating that they could not continue their "indefinite strike", nurses of the premier institute called off their strike Tuesday night.

Around 5000 AIIMS nurses went on an immediate strike from Monday demanding:

• Correction of an anomaly in the fixation of the initial pay as per the sixth CPC
• Redressal of issues such as the abolishment of gender-based reservation in the recruiting process of nursing officers and contractual appointments
• Enhancement of hospital accommodation
• Cadre restructuring

With this, the patient care services at the emergency, outpatient departments, and operation theatres were curtailed and several patients were forwarded to other hospitals with only resident doctors and faculty members and senior nursing officers managing the rest of the operations.

Also Read: Irregularities In Salary: AIIMS Delhi Nurses Call For Indefinite Strike, Emergency Services Hit

However, the nurses called off the strike on Tuesday night following the restraining order from the Delhi High Court.

"They (nurses) have called off their strike and have joined their duties," AIIMS Director Dr. Randeep Guleria told PTI.

The hospital administration, along with health ministry officials held a meeting during which the union was assured that all "local issues" would be addressed immediately, while those pertaining to the ministry will be dealt with separately as early as possible, sources privy to the development told the agency.

Following the around two-hour meeting, the nurses' union called off its strike, they added.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court restrained the nurses union from continuing with its indefinite strike. Justice Navin Chawla passed the order on a plea moved by AIIMS against the strike by the nurses.

The court restrained the nurses from going on strike till further orders after AIIMS said it was considering the grievances of the union. It also issued a notice to the nurses union and listed the matter for hearing in January 2021.

As per a recent PTI report, AIIMS told the court that in view of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic if the strike continued the hospital would come to a standstill which would be not in public interest as it is a COVID-19 facility as well.

Earlier, the health ministry on Monday had issued an order stating that non-compliance of the "code of conduct", laid down as per a 2002 Delhi High Court judgment, whereby no AIIMS employee or staff or faculty member will cease work for any reason, will be treated as an offense under the Disaster Management Act.

In a video message on Monday, Guleria had termed the strike as "inappropriate and unfortunate" in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and appealed to nurses to call off their agitation and return to work.